New High Fidelity CRISPR Cas9 Protein Reduces Off-Target Effects

Thermo Fisher Scientific’s new Invitrogen TrueCut Hifi Cas9 Protein is designed for research applications that require highly precise genome editing, such as the engineering of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells and the creation of cellular models for disease discovery. Launched in late November 2021, the new protein significantly minimizes off-target events while retaining maximum on-target editing efficiency.

The Invitrogen TrueCut HiFi Cas9 Protein complements Thermo Fisher’s existing portfolio of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) genome-editing solutions by minimizing edits in unintended locations, which the company stated in a Nov. 30, 2021 press release are very disruptive in translational research, drug screening, and drug modeling. According to Thermo Fisher, the protein demonstrates near complete elimination of off-target effects compared to wild-type Cas9 in several cell types, including T cells and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). The company also stated that it has demonstrated improved off-target profiles relative to other products on the market in the release.

"Our pharma and biotech customers are looking for highly precise, accurate solutions to harness the power of CRISPR genome editing," said Brandon Pence, vice-president and general manager of cell biology at Thermo Fisher Scientific, in the press release. "Nothing is more disappointing than to find out months after an edit that the biological response you are measuring was due to an unintended off-target edit. The new Invitrogen TrueCut HiFi Cas9 Protein offers researchers the confidence that their edits took place where they intended, not somewhere else in the genome."